Inside the Premiere of Frankie With Isabelle Huppert and Marisa Tomei

When Isabelle Huppert wants something, she goes after it. It’s a tenacity that’s earned the French actor some 140 film and TV credits and more César Award nominations than any other female performer. The latest by-product of her tireless work ethic is Frankie, a film brought to life because Huppert herself reached out to the director, Ira Sachs to have it made.

“What he requires of the actors is not reacting but just being,” Huppert told Vogue. “There is something so natural in his movies, you don’t feel like people are acting. It’s reality, and it’s very precious for the actors.”

On Monday night Sachs, Huppert, and her costar Marisa Tomei made an appearance at the Metrograph theater for a premiere screening of Frankie hosted by the Cinema Society. Opening October 25, the film follows three generations of a family who’ve come together for a vacation organized by the family matriarch, a dying actor played by Huppert. Shot on location among the stunning villas and gardens of Sintra, Portugal, Frankie gave its leading ladies plenty of opportunities for some on-set bonding.

“Isabella and I were staying in the same bed-and-breakfast together, and we would both come down in the morning, clean-faced, and just talk over eggs and pastries,” Tomei said. “I have so much respect for her, so it was easy to fall in love with her from the point of view of being a gypsy on the road all the time and bonding over the lives that we live as actresses.”

It’s a connection that shines through in the film, where Tomei plays a makeup artist and confidante of Huppert’s character. Frankie is just one of many projects Tomei is juggling at a particularly busy moment in her career, especially this week. Monday night’s premiere was followed by Tuesday night’s opening of Tomei’s latest Broadway role, in a revival of Tennessee Williams’s The Rose Tattoo, which kept her from staying out too late.

After the screening guests trekked from the Metrograph to the Crown, the rooftop bar in Hotel 50 Bowery. While the brisk fall weather kept most from venturing out onto the rooftop patio, guests like Donna Karan and Tory Burch mingled inside while wine glasses filled up. Despite flying in from Italy and landing in New York mere hours before the premiere, Huppert didn’t let jet lag stop her from showing up to chat with friends and colleagues.

Who knows? Maybe she ended up asking one of them to direct her next film.